MyCartis said Thursday it will engage in a novel point-of-need diagnostic solution named Antelope Dx, in its strategy to innovate novel immunodiagnostic technologies.
Antelope Dx is an immuno-diagnostic platform in development, that aims to offer clinical lab performance with the ease-of-use of a pregnancy test at a consumer price tag.

MyCartis has developed immunoassay technology, DMAT, which is integrated in its real-time immuno-diagnostic Evaluation platform. DMAT delivers an unmatched combination of features, covering multiplexing, assay speed and analytical performance, together with the unique ability to qualify immune responses directly.

Peter Bienstman, a university professor at Ghent, where the technology originated, said: “This technology has been in development for more than ten years, and we’re excited and proud that Antelope Dx and MyCartis will partner up to bring this point-of-need testing to the patient.”

Jan-Willem Hoste, Antelope Dx lead in MyCartis, said: “Both digital health solutions and point-of-care diagnostics are evolving rapidly and offer solutions for decentralized healthcare, each in their own way. We believe the Antelope technology will connect the dots: affordable and easy to use, yet without compromising on quality.”

Hilde Windels, CEO of MyCartis, said: “We are very excited that we can contribute to bringing actionable clinical diagnostic guidance closer to the patient. We will work hard with a very dedicated, experienced team to provide a solution which is affordable, fast and reliable, three necessary ingredients to be at the forefront of next generation point-of-need testing.”

The first test is in development and will be a direct-to-consumer test that will provide an immediate and easy to read result about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), MyCartis said.

The second test will check for acute bacterial or viral infection in patients. Bacterial and viral infections are often clinically indistinguishable, leading to antibiotic overuse and contributing to the spread of antibiotic resistance, one of the biggest threats to global health according the WHO. The test will guide both doctor and patient towards required treatment in less than 10 minutes during the doctor’s visit.

Other applications in the pipeline relate to therapeutic drug monitoring at home and follow-up of heart disease patients.